pronounced as /notice/Slanted speech (Icelandic: '''Flámæli''' (in Icelandic pronounced as /ˈflauːmailɪ/; also Icelandic: '''flámælgi''' and Icelandic: '''flámælska''') was a sound change which was widespread in the first half of the 20th century in Iceland, especially in the West and South.[1] The vowels pronounced as //ɪ// and pronounced as //ʏ// (written (i) or (y) and (u) respectively) were lowered so that Icelandic: vinur (pronounced as //ˈvɪːnʏr//,) was pronounced pronounced as //ˈvɛːnœr// (as if written (venör)) and Icelandic: skyr (pronounced as //scɪːr//, a kind of yogurt) as pronounced as //scɛːr// (like (sker)), while the vowels e and ö were raised such that Icelandic: spölur (pronounced as //spœːlʏr//,) sounded like pronounced as //spʏːlʏr// (as if (spulur)) and Icelandic: melur (pronounced as //ˈmɛːlʏr//,) as pronounced as //ˈmɪːlʏr// (as if (milur)).[2]
This sound change was thought to be very ugly and called Icelandic: hljóðvilla .[3] It was prominent from 1940 in the speech of people from the Southwest and the Eastfjords, but also in the North and in Húnavatnssýsla. A special campaign was carried out during 1940–1960 in primary schools to eliminate flámæli. RÚV and Þjóðleikhúsið enforced a policy that the so-called phonological error would not be allowed.[4] In 1929 42% of children in Reykjavík spoke with flámæli but by 1960 it had been eradicated among children.